Hollywood hardman Rourke said he removes his false teeth as he shares a tub with another man in a film about the life of the Welsh rugby star and gay icon

Hollywood hardman Mickey Rourke has revealed he’s going to take his false front teeth out while sharing an intimate bath with another man in his upcoming movie about gay Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas.

The New York-born star made the on-air confession when he appeared looking slimmed down and match-fit on hit US chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The Oscar-nominated actor told the programme’s host his Alfie biopic – which has been a labour of love since he first read about ex-Cardiff Blues player’s well-publicised coming out in 2010 – won’t pull any punches when filming eventually starts.

“There’s a scene where I’m in the tub with another guy and I remove my teeth at the front and put them on the edge of the bath – you know, before we get it on,” smiled the 61-year-old, who originally damaged his pearly white smile when he took to the boxing ring after growing disillusioned with acting during the early 90s .

He also admitted to having spent the last three years training steadily for the physically demanding sporting role.

“A whole bunch of different athletes have followed Gareth in coming out in the last couple of years,” he added.

“But I didn’t want to do a boxing movie and I can’t play basketball – I don’t dribble very well – so rugby seemed to be the sport.”

Rourke, who made his Hollywood comeback in 2008 as a steroid-amped grappler in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, added that he’d spent a lot of time in the UK with teams such as London Wasps and Thomas’ own former side, Wrexham-based Crusaders.

“I was in the locker room looking at these guys and I’d never seen physical specimens like it,” he said.

“At half-time there were at least four of them in there getting their faces stitched up.

“One young kid, who must have been about 25, was eating a ham sandwich while the doctor set about sewing up the seven-inch gash above his eye.

“So he’s sitting there and the doctor’s telling him to sit still but this kid is looking up at him as if he’s nuts.

“What I mean is this was just an everyday thing to this guy.

“Plus half of these players didn’t have their own teeth so I thought ‘Hey, I don’t have my own teeth either – this is gonna be great,” he said.

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